Electronic games have provided entertainment to a large segment of the population for many years. Originally developed for personal computers (PCs), electronic games are now commonly found on various handheld devices, such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), game consoles, and the like. The technology supporting these electronic games has increased at a tremendous rate, evolving from simple games presented in a very crude low resolution format to highly sophisticated and complex games with high resolution 3-D graphics.
With the recent development of handheld devices with multimedia capability and Internet access, there exists a tremendous opportunity to introduce new interactive technology into the gaming industry. Multiplayer electronic games, which have traditionally been limited to PC applications, can now be played online by multiple players on multiple handheld devices. However, as this technology continues to evolve, the electronic gaming industry will be confronted with various challenges. These challenges include restricted memory capacity, network latency, limited power, processing limitations, proprietary operating systems, different wireless network protocols, bandwidth considerations, and other challenges generally associated with mobile handheld devices. As the electronic game industry prepares to meet these challenges, there exists a need for new technology that allows multiple players on multiple handsets to play interactive games across multiple platforms.